Photoshop plugins

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Anakin
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Photoshop plugins

Post by Anakin »

Hi,

I'm looking forward to make my own PSE Plugin since i can not get a PS full buyable version and the plugins i want don't seam to exist.

All I want:
Split an layer into rgba and save it back.
rgb is no problem, since i can make 3 copies of the layer and use levels to get only red, green and blue. Loading the alpha channel is no problem either. I can use Load Selection and choose Alpha 1. Next i make a new layer and fill the selection black, background white (or the different way. Not sure what the correct way is).
I can also use the display mod Lighten to merge the 3 layers back to one. And i can save a selection to the alpha channel. BUT:
The selection tools can only select 1/0. So i can only have alpha channel values 0 and 255. What i need is a way to save the values between 0 and 255 to the alpha.

My idea is to make an automated script for splitting and merging. Splitting shouldn't be a problem. Only for merging i need to find a way to make an automated selection with 0 to 255 and not only 0 and 1. It is possible since PSE can load such a selection from an existing alpha channel.


And now the big problem: I have no idea about plugin programming :D I hope someone of you can point me the right way.
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Re: Photoshop plugins

Post by Twilight_Warrior »

I'm not very photoshop saavy, but if you can't get full Photoshop, have you tried looking into GIMP? It's basically open-source photoshop, and because of that, there are TONS of user-created plugins. You can probably find what you need there.
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Anakin
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Re: Photoshop plugins

Post by Anakin »

Simply spoken, yes. Gimp has the alpha channel support that's my main problem. But I hate gimp. First I used paint.net, and went to PSE. Than I tried gimp and I don't liked it. Even paint.net is not my favorite anymore.

I already found the PhotoShop SDK. Just need someone to explain the basics of it. Since it uses c++ and I'm good in c++

==EDIT==

I read the adobe photoshop sdk documentation and was really glad when i saw the selection filters are possible. But i even couldn't compile the example code....

But i found a way to save a greyscale image to alpha channel :D
So now i just need the plugin for convenience reasons.

For everyone who like Photoshop elements and needs to split/merge the channels

Here are my steps to split and merge the channels of an image. Therefore i made a new image (800x600) and used the gradients tool with the Colors #fff000 and #00fff6. That way every colour is used.

  • make 3 copies of your layer and name them red green blue alpha
  • Choose the red layer and press Ctrl+L or choose the option "Levels" from the menu (in german you can find it under Überarbeiten>Beleuchtung anpassen>Tonwertkorrektur)
  • now you choose at the Channel green and set the range value from 0 to 255 to 0 to 0.
  • repeat the last step for blue.
  • repeat the last two steps to delete the colour red/blue from the green layer and red/green from the blue layer.
  • set the blending mod of these three layers to lighten.
  • OK now you can change the RGB layers using only red/green/blue and black on the different layers. Later on you can merge these layers back to one layer.
  • If you want to get the alpha channel you go to selection>load selection. Choose "Alpha 1" If you cannot load a selection, there is no alpha channel.
  • make a new layer and use the fill tool to make the selection white.
  • put an other layer under that new created one and fill it completely black.
  • merge these two layers and you got the alpha channel.
  • to save it back you need a new adjustment layer. It doesn't matter which one.
  • copy your greyscale alpha image, hold "ALT" and klick on the white preview image of the adjustment layer and paste the greyscale image.
  • hold STRG and klick on the preview image of the adjustment layer. Now you got a new selection from only white.
  • go to selection>save selection and save it under "Alpha 1"
  • maybe you need to invert (STRG + i) the greyscale image to get the right result, and it seams that the selected alpha from the adjustment layer is sometimes a bit brighter. So make it just a bit darker :D

and for some reason the list view doesn't work.... (Fixed. -Staff) But i hope that this helps someone of you.
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